Did you know that you can refurbish most kitchens without replacing all of the units?

Cabinet doors, drawer fronts, plinths, worktops and tiles can all be replaced whilst leaving the carcases/frames in place.

Whether you’re a first-time buyer with limited funds or an investor, kitchen refurbishments are a great way to update an old kitchen to a modern design both quickly and within a limited budget.

We recently looked into updating an old galley kitchen in an early 1990’s 2-bed house.

Here’s a photo of the kitchen:

To keep a lid on the cost, here’s a list of the things we want to keep:

• Kitchen frames/carcasses
• Oven
• Sink
• Floor tiles
• Taps
• Lighting

And here’s a list of everything we want to replace:

• Cupboard doors
• Drawer fronts
• All handles and hinges
• Plinths
• Gas hob
• Worktop
• Wall tiles

Keep reading to see how much this will cost and how long we think the work will take someone with good DIY skills.

Cost of All The Parts

Doors, Drawer Fronts, Plinths, Handles, Hinges – £800 – £1000

Worktop – £250

Gas Hob – £200

Tiles – £275

Paint – £50

Total – From £1550

Get a Price For Kitchen Cupboard Doors and Other Accessories

Getting a price for new kitchen cupboard doors and other parts is easy, just measure up your existing kitchen and head over to one of the many websites that offer replacement products.

We sourced prices for the cupboard doors, drawer fronts and handles etc from Kitchen Door Workshop, Hot Doors and Lark and Larks.

The prices varied but most of the sizes were universal so we didn’t need too many doors on a made-to-measure basis.

We sourced the gas hob, paint and worktop from B&Q.

Topps Tiles was our choice for the walls, grout and adhesive.

DIY Installation

We’ll be updating this kitchen ourselves, the only work we can’t do is connecting the gas to the cooker.

Replacing kitchen cabinet doors does require some DIY skills, there are several sites and blogs online that offer tips and suggestions.

This step-by-step fitting guide is the best we’ve found so far.

Labour

As we’ll be doing this ourselves, there are no extra costs to consider but for a homeowner who wants to bring in a tradesperson, you’ll be paying around 1.5 – 2 days labour on top of the cost of the materials.

Labour fees vary around the country and also depend on the size of the business; small one-man traders are always cheaper than larger companies with more overheads.

As a rough guide, budget between £250 and £400 per day for labour (a team of two).

More information about tradesperson’s day rates and wages etc can be found here.

How Do These Prices Compare to Kitchen Replacements?

Last year we looked into how much it would cost to replace an entire kitchen in a 3-bed house.

While not a direct comparison to the galley kitchen shown on this page, our kitchen price guide is certainly insightful.

Get a Quote

We hope you found our guide to kitchen refurbishment costs insightful.

You can certainly save a small fortune by renovating rather than replacing a kitchen.

Hit the button below to get a quote from a local, rated and reviewed tradesperson: